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Rock and rip

Rock and rip

EdVoice, that controversial Sacramento lobbying organization, has already rolled out at least two mailers on behalf of 78th District Democratic assembly candidate Marty Block, chairman of the board of the San Diego Community College District. According ...

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Indian givers

Indian givers

The long-running dispute between the Barona Indians and their neighbors over pumping water for the tribe’s golf course apparently demanded a recent firsthand inspection by county supervisor Ron Roberts. On February 20, according to recently ...

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Mystery meat

Mystery meat

Some San Diego city hall insiders are expecting the investigation announced this week by Mayor Jerry Sanders of that controversial Otay Mesa Blackwater training facility to be a whitewash. Exhibit number one, they argue, is ...

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Never mind

Never mind

Political observers are scratching their heads over the unfortunate strategic timing of a new mailer being sent out by the campaign of Auday Arabo, the ... More Comment (1)

Tough guys

Tough guys

The by-now-infamous F-word meltdown by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders is only the latest instance in a long history of bad-boy behavior by the onetime ... More Comments (3)

Political dowries

Political dowries

Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins — the former law firm of now-imprisoned superlawyer Bill Lerach — is throwing a fund-raiser for Mike Lumpkin, running ... More Post a comment

Duke’s legacy

Duke’s legacy

The United States Navy is still using software sold to it by ADCS, the Poway outfit founded by Brent Wilkes, convicted of bribery, fraud, conspiracy, ... More Post a comment

Scenes from a divorce

Scenes from a divorce

It’s campaign season, time to delve into some colorful divorces of San Diego’s more-or-less rich and sort-of famous personalities. Earlier it was GOP city attorney ... More Comments (2)

The K word

The K word

Thirty-Ninth District Democratic state senator Christine Kehoe is the chairwoman of the senate’s Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee, holding life-and-death power over bills crucial to ... More Comments (2)

Eat, drink, and be lobbying

Eat, drink, and be lobbying

While the State of California is threatening to slash funds for everything from school teachers to parks, higher-ups out at UCSD continue to party on. ... More Post a comment

What recession?

What recession?

More UCSD spending: recently appointed UCSD health sciences counsel Anthony Perez is being paid an annual base salary of $210,000 and will be eligible for ... More Post a comment

Ghost of Nixon’s past

Ghost of Nixon’s past

Maybe it’s something in the water, but many of San Diego’s top Republican political players have lived to a ripe old age. Banker C. Arnholt ... More Comments (2)

Pete’s return

Pete’s return

Ex-mayor Pete Wilson, who retired as governor to a tony house in Los Angeles, returns to San Diego only occasionally these days to accept tributes ... More Comment (1)

Calling new cops

Calling new cops

Faced with continued departures from the ranks of its sworn officers due to low pay, low morale, and competition from other law enforcement agencies, the ... More Post a comment

Alien intelligence

Alien intelligence

Information Week is out with a list of organizations that obtained H-1B visas to bring foreign “guest” workers into the country last year. They included ... More Comments (3)

Straight up

Straight up

The National Organization for Marriage California, a political committee sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage, a group backing a state measure to ban gay ... More Comments (7)

Shell game

Shell game

It’s getting hard to tell who is financing whom in the increasingly combative races for San Diego city council and city attorney. As the jousting ... More Post a comment

Quids, quos, and a pro

Quids, quos, and a pro

The source of campaign money recently given to Marty Block may come to Democrats as a bit of a surprise. Block is the San Diego ... More Comment (1)

Bucks for friends

Bucks for friends

San Diego’s GOP mayor Jerry Sanders has announced that under his direction the City has made a $5 million deposit at Neighborhood National Bank. “This ... More Comments (2)

Sweet deal

Sweet deal

It’s politics with an inside twist at the County Administration Building, where Jim Duffy, a sheriff’s lieutenant, took over earlier this year as Republican county ... More Comments (3)

San Diego to Sacramento

San Diego to Sacramento

Big labor is throwing in big money to oppose San Diego fifth district Republican city council candidate Carl DeMaio, a self-styled government reformer opposed by ... More Comment (1)

Dollar flows

Dollar flows

Employees of a small defense contractor headquartered in Mission Valley have created a stir in local political circles with their flurry of contributions this past ... More Comments (4)

Follow the money

Follow the money

EdVoice, a controversial Sacramento lobbying and political action group closely aligned with Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad and other wealthy advocates of public school privatization ... More Comments (3)

No go

No go

District Eight San Diego city councilman Ben Hueso has been told by the general counsel of the City’s Ethics Commission that he can’t vote on ... More Comment (1)

Taxing education

Taxing education

It’s March, and that means it’s again time for San Diego State University Month, when the taxpayer-funded institution flexes its public relations muscle and shows ... More Comments (3)

Piggybanks

Piggybanks

Padres owner John Moores continues to pour cash into the legal defense fund of departing California Senate president pro tem Don Perata of Oakland, under ... More Post a comment

Stretches

Stretches

You know the political season is in high gear when candidates file their ballot statements, describing their personal achievements, with plenty of hyperbole thrown in ... More Comments (3)

Longhorned

Longhorned

Texas buyout magnate T. Boone Pickens, who has a spread in Del Mar Country Club Estates near Rancho Santa Fe, is throwing a St. Patrick’s ... More Comment (1)

Muscled out

Muscled out

What remains of San Diego’s rapidly diminishing press corps has always had a tough time getting a straight story out of Mayor Jerry Sanders and ... More Comments (2)

Lowery’s demise

Lowery’s demise

The San Diego State University Research Foundation has parted company with the firm of ex–GOP congressman Bill Lowery, its longtime lobbyist, who is currently under ... More Comment (1)

Busted

Busted

Back in July 2001, then–San Diego mayor Dick Murphy and the rest of the city council voted to give a cool $1 million of taxpayer ... More Post a comment

Juiced old boys

Juiced old boys

Old politicos never die, they just become consultants and fade onto the advisory boards of taxpayer-funded organizations, where they make wealthy new friends, line up ... More Post a comment

Schmoozing with Sanders

Schmoozing with Sanders

A big new raft of San Diego city lobbyist registrations are in, and not surprisingly many of the most prosperous influence peddlers also happen to ... More Post a comment

Dreamy

Dreamy

Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has lately been picking up big pieces of change from San Diego County fat cats. The governor’s “Dream Team” committee collected ... More Comment (1)

Out of the lobby

Out of the lobby

Back in November, we reported here that San Diego County district attorney Bonnie Dumanis spent a total of $35,680 in the second quarter of last ... More Comment (1)

Down beat

Down beat

It’s no secret that San Diego State’s KPBS public broadcasting department has been cutting back on producers and local coverage, the most prominent examples being ... More Post a comment

Mother of Mogadishu

Mother of Mogadishu

Now that it’s been announced that Padres owner John Moores is splitting up with wife Becky and she is presumed to be in line under ... More Comment (1)

Brian's singsong

Brian's singsong

Now that Super Tuesday is out of the way, the real business of politics can begin. On February 20, GOP congressman Brian Bilbray, who replaced ... More Comment (1)

Unnecessary roughness

Unnecessary roughness

Jostling in the race for San Diego city attorney is becoming more pronounced as the major candidates lining up against incumbent Mike Aguirre seek to ... More Comments (6)

Greedy

Greedy

With recession looming and tax revenues falling at an unprecedented rate, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislature are threatening draconian reductions in state spending, including ... More Post a comment

Hil raising

Hil raising

When one Democratic presidential candidate swung through town last Friday, the business of the San Diego State University Research Foundation’s investment committee was put on ... More Post a comment

Clowns of the GOP

Clowns of the GOP

How much does it cost to harass Mike Aguirre? San Diego County’s Republican Central Committee forked over $375 on the 16th of this month to ... More Post a comment

Preppy Head-Hunt

Preppy Head-Hunt

La Jolla’s Bishop’s School, tony alma mater of the late Andrew Cunanan, the gay serial killer who murdered fashion icon Gianni Versace before killing himself ... More Post a comment

Keep out of jail cash

Keep out of jail cash

Padres owner John Moores, no stranger to legal scrapes himself, has given $25,000 to the legal defense fund of state Senate President Pro Tem Don ... More Comment (1)

Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends

A firm run by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders's key political advisor has lobbied city hall during the run-up to Sanders’s re-election bid, raising conflict-of-interest ... More Comments (2)

House of Sand and Cash

House of Sand and Cash

Those posh new digs for UCSD's chancellor will have to wait at least another month or so. In the face of protests from historical preservationists ... More Post a comment

Desert of the heart

Desert of the heart

There’s been another development in the slow but steady liquidation of the newspaper holding company of late Union-Tribune owner Helen Copley. Last week Copley Press ... More Post a comment

Cheesy

Cheesy

The California Tribal Business Alliance, a well-heeled political action committee backed by six Indian tribes, including the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians and the Viejas ... More Post a comment

Charity Begins at the Mansion

Charity Begins at the Mansion

With Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposing draconian cuts — including closing 48 state parks and beaches, slashing Medi-Cal and school funding, and releasing 22,159 “low risk” ... More Comment (1)

Blowback

Blowback

A limousine operator in Washington, D.C., linked to the Randy “Duke” Cunningham scandal is suing the Copley Press for libel, alleging that Union-Tribune business writer ... More Post a comment

Charity Begins in Chula Vista

Charity Begins in Chula Vista

Charger owner Alex Spanos, who has proclaimed Chula Vista the ultimate locale of his new football stadium — if it is to be built in ... More Post a comment

Boxed in

Boxed in

If past behavior is any guide, last weekend’s playoff game between the Chargers and the Tennessee Titans resulted in a full house at the City’s ... More Post a comment

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Win tickets to Mick Fleetwood's Uncorked Tour!

Mick Fleetwood hits the road this summer with The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and Wine Experience. Mick Fleetwood, the iconic ... More